Placer Valley Tourism to manage, renovate Placer County Fairgrounds

Placer Valley Tourism, the nonprofit regional tourism marketing bureau, will take over management of the Placer County Fairgrounds in Roseville in July, with plans to renovate them and to bring in more events.

Placer County will provide $2 million to help renovate the 79-year-old fairgrounds, under an agreement approved Tuesday by the county Board of Supervisors. Placer Valley Tourism will put another $4 million into the renovations.

The management agreement has a 35-year term for the main 61-acre fairgrounds. A separate agreement for management of the neighboring All American Speedway will run 15 years. The All American Speedway is a one-third-mile NASCAR-sanctioned short-track oval racetrack.

“From the city’s perspective, we’re very excited about this for a couple of reasons,” said Dominick Casey, Roseville assistant city manager. The facilities and landscaping will be upgraded at the fairgrounds, which is an entrance into Roseville’s downtown, he said. Also, the fairgrounds site was “severely under-programmed,” and Placer Valley Tourism plans to put on more events, Casey said.

Placer Valley Tourism plans to repair and update buildings and parking lots, and to explore building an indoor sports and events center, said Kim Summers, the tourism bureau's director of marketing.

The fairgrounds site, at 800 All America City Blvd., is accessed from Washington Boulevard, which was once the main highway between Roseville and Lincoln. Residential neighborhoods have since grown up around the fairgrounds.

Roseville assistant city manager Casey said the city is going to work with Placer Valley Tourism and the county to create another access to the fairgrounds from Junction Boulevard to the north.

The operation and management of the fairgrounds was previously handled by the Placer County Fair Association, which used to be funded by the state. That funding stopped with the recession, and staffing and maintenance were cut back at the fairgrounds. The county stepped in with $200,000 in 2015 to pay for deferred maintenance. The county has since been seeking an operator and manager of the fairgrounds since.

“We are going to have to hire additional staff,” said Placer Valley Tourism’s Summers. The fair board currently employs about five people at the fairgrounds, and they could potentially become Placer Valley employees. The transition of management has yet to be negotiated, she said. "We’re still at beginning stages.”

Placer Valley Tourism is also currently awaiting federal wetlands permits to begin development of a $35 million sports complex on 55 acres in western Roseville. The complex would allow the group to attract more tournaments with eight to 12 high-quality fields.

Placer Valley Tourism was formed at the end of 2003 as a hotel business improvement district, in which the hotels collect a tax from visitors to fund marketing. The organization has booked and arranged amateur sports and other events to help fill more of its region's hotel rooms on weekends.